Advantages and limitations of thermal lens spectrometry over conventional spectrophotometry for absorbance measurements

This review considers the advantages and the limitations that thermal lens spectrometry has over conventional spectrophotometry for the measurement of optical absorption in specific applications. The photothermal method is characterized by its intrinsic sensitivity resulting from the indirect nature of the measurement and amplified by physical and thermo-optical parameters which are not effective in absorbance measurements. Other advantages include a weak dependence on light scattering and the complementary nature of photothermal spectra with respect to absorption and emission spectra for speciation studies at very low concentrations. The main drawbacks are the convective noise, the background absorbance and the complexity of the experimental set-up, especially when differential or wavelength scanning measurements are required.     

Matrix effects in thermal lens spectrometry: influence of salts, surfactants, polymers and solvent mixtures

In this paper, we present an overall view of the matrix effects that can change or alter the signal in thermal lens spectrometry and we report the main works published in this field. The addition of salts, surfactants and polymers in aqueous solutions or the use of solvent mixtures is often needed in a variety of applications either to enhance the sensitivity of the thermal lens method or more generally because such media are required in the separation process prior to thermal lens detection. In most cases, matrix effects result in small changes in the thermo-optical properties of the solution and small signal variations. However, most important signal alterations can arise from the Soret effect. In binary mixtures as well as in solutions with macromolecular species which are initially homogeneous, the temperature gradient will induce the migration of molecules and the formation of a concentration gradient. This results in the formation of a concentration-dependent refractive index gradient which adds to the temperature-dependent refractive index gradient and contributes to the formation of a new signal. This effect can seriously alter the analytical signal and lead to erroneous interpretation of the experimental data. In contrast, time-resolved measurements can help in separating both signal components and have allowed to derive mass-diffusion times and mass-diffusion coefficients for a variety of micelles and polymers.     

Cw-laser thermal lens spectrometry in binary mixtures of water and organic solvents: composition dependence of the steady-state and time-resolved signals

The thermal lens effect obtained in binary liquid systems composed of water and ethanol, propanol and acetonitrile has been investigated. The dependence of dn/dT upon the solvent volume fraction follows polynomials up to sixth order and cannot be precisely predicted using the additive rule. The sensitivity of the thermal lens method upon the addition of organic solvent in water varies as the temperature-dependent refractive index gradient to thermal conductivity ratio of the mixture provided that the signal is sampled correctly. Otherwise, especially when steady-state experiments are carried out, the thermally induced concentration gradient, known as the Soret effect, can change the thermo-optical properties of the solution locally in the irradiated area and produce an additional signal. This effect depends on the solvent and is maximum at low solvent composition. At the critical solvent volume fraction of 0.1-0.15, the Soret component may represent up to 25% of the pure thermal lens signal and has a time constant which is 200-400 times greater than the characteristic time constant of the thermal lens.     

Investigation of the thermal lens effect in water-ethanol mixtures: composition dependence of the refractive index gradient, the enhancement factor and the Soret effect.

The thermal lens effect produced in binary mixtures of water and ethanol has been investigated. It is shown that the sensitivity of the thermal lens method upon the addition of ethanol in water varies as the temperature-dependent refractive index gradient to thermal conductivity ratio of the mixture. The dependence of k and dn/dT upon the ethanol volume fraction follows a second-order and fourth-order polynomial, respectively, and cannot be precisely predicted using the additive rule. Moreover, depending on the experimental conditions and the mixture composition, the temperature gradient produced subsequently to relaxation of the excited species induces mutual migration of the solvent molecules and the formation of a concentration gradient in the irradiated area. This effect, known as the Soret effect, can locally change the thermo-optical properties of the solution and produce an additional signal, especially when steady-state experiments are done. This may result in errors as large as 20% when quantitative informations have to be derived from experimental data.     

The effects of eluent mixing on TLS detection in gradient elution HPLC

The effects of changing solvent composition on the LOD of TLS detection in gradient elution HPLC have been studied from the perspective of thermo-optical properties of the solvent. Hyphenated gradient high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC)-thermal lens spectrometry (TLS), was used to separate and detect 13 carotenoid compounds and two chlorophylls. Utilization of mixing coils into the system reduces the inhomogeneities during eluent changes and therefore enables the application of thermal lens detection in the gradient HPLC method. For gradient chromatographic conditions in which the thermo-optical properties and related enhancement factor change as much as 50% over 10 min, the LODs for the TLS detector were enhanced by as much as three times in comparison with UV-Vis detection. For the isocratic part of the chromatogram, up to a tenfold improvement of LODs was achieved with TLS detection.     

Characterization of Autocatalytic Reactions in Modified Cellulose/NMMO Solutions by Thermal Analysis and UV/VIS Spectroscopy

The thermal stability of cellulose/N-methylmorpholine-N-oxide (NMMO) solutions were investigated using UV/VIS spectrometry with a temperature programming cuvette and caloric measurements by means of the Systag calorimeter RADEX (mini-autoclave). Both analytical methods allow to characterize the influences of stabilizers and additives. With the temporal course of the optical density, temperature and pressure thermal runaway reactions with gas evolution and accumulation of chromophoric degradation products were recognized. Kinetic model calculations compared with UV/VIS measurements demonstrate the existence of autocatalytic reactions in cellulose/NMMO solutions. Varying the heating rate autocatalysis can be proved by dynamic caloric measurements as well.     

Ionic Liquids for and by Analytical Spectroscopy

Abstract

In this mini‐review we highlight two aspects of ionic liquids that to date have either no or limited studies. They are (1) exploitation of unique features of ionic liquids to develop novel spectroscopic methods and (2) development of novel spectroscopic methods, for the sensitive and accurate determination of thermal physical properties of ionic liquids. In the first category, we will describe several novel methods which were developed utilizing unique properties of ionic liquids for measurements which are not possible otherwise. They include the sensitive and accurate method to determine enantiomeric compositions of a variety of pharmaceutical products with different size, shape, and functional groups. This method is based on the use of a chiral IL which serves both as a solvent and also as a chiral selector. Ionic liquids have also been successfully used to substantially enhance the sensitivity of thermal lens measurements. In the second category, we will describe recent development in which transient grating technique and thermal lens technique have been successfully used for the sensitive, accurate, nondestructive determination of thermal physical properties of ILs.     

Two-Laser Thermal Lens Spectrometry with Signal Back-Synchronization

A two-laser dual-beam thermal lens spectrometer based on continuous-wave lasers, which implements the mode with signal back-synchronization, is developed with the aim to develop instrumentation for thermal lens spectrometry. This mode offers a potentially higher sensitivity of measurements in comparison with the lock-in mode of thermal lens measurements and variation of conditions depending on the measurement medium (solvent, or dispersed system, or solids). The wider possibilities of the back-synchronization mode in thermal lens spectrometry both for solving problems of chemical analysis and in some related fields are shown.     

Thermal decomposition of poly(butylene terephthalate)

Detailed results of the overall thermal degradation of poly(butylene terephthalate) are reported. Laser microprobe analysis and dynamic mass spectrometric techniques were used to identify the primary volatile degradation products and initial pyrolysis reactions that control polymer degradation. A complex multistage decomposition mechanism was observed which involves two major reaction pathways. Initial degradation occurs by an ionic decomposition process that results in the evolution of tetrahydrofuran. This is followed by concerted ester pyrolysis reactions that involve an intermediate cyclic transition state and yield 1,3-butadiene. Simultaneous decarboxylation reactions occur in both decomposition regimes. Finally, the latter stages of polymer decomposition were characterized by evolution of CO and complex aromatic species such as toluene, benzoic acid, and terephthalic acid. Activation energies of formation for the main pyrolysis products were determined from the dynamic measurements of the major ion species and indicate values of E = 27.9 kcal/mole for the production of tetrahydrofuran and E = 49.7 kcal/mole for the production of butadiene.     

Hemichrome Determination by Thermal Lensing with Polyethylene Glycols for Signal Enhancement in Aqueous Solutions

The thermal lens technique is proposed for the determination of total hemoglobin in the form of reversible hemichrome. The conditions were optimized (concentration of sodium dodecyl sulfate, 2?mM) to attain the maximum sensitivity with the use of polyethylene glycols as signal enhancers. For polyethylene glycols with molecular weights 1500–35000 Da in a concentration range of 5–15% w/w (5–25?mM), the influence on thermal lens signal enhancement was estimated. It is shown that the use of 5% w/w polyethylene glycol 2000 provides the maximum increase in the thermal lens enhancement factor (by 40%) in comparison with unmodified aqueous solutions. The detection limit of iron(II) tris(1,10-phenanthrolinate) as a model system is 60?nM. Under these conditions, the thermal lens detection limit of hemichrome is 10?nM, which shows a 15-fold enhancement compared to spectrophotometry. Modification of the medium with polyethylene glycols decreases the limit of detection of hemichrome determination by 15% in comparison with unmodified aqueous solutions due to better reproducibility for the range of concentrations from 0.02 to 0.9?µM.     

强脉冲激光激发的热透镜光度分析法

用自装的热透镜测量装置,观察了强脉冲激光作用下的热透镜行为。测量丙酮/水混合液中的Cocl₂,检测限为3×10^-7M,相当于6×10^-6的吸光度。将差分放大技术用于热透镜测量,降低了He-Ne激光振幅噪声的影响,改善了信噪比。     

Enhancement of thermal stability and photoluminescent performance of blue light emitting material by incorporating adamantane moieties into carbazole system

A facile route to improve photoluminescent performance and service lifetime of a promising blue light emitting material is reported and demonstrated here using a copolymer system of N-(2-ethylhexyl)-2,7-carbazole (Cz) and 1,3,5,7-tetrakis- (4-bromophenyl) adamantane (TBA). The copolymers were successfully synthesized by palladium-catalyzed Suzuki coupling reactions. Structure and molecular weight of the materials were characterized by FT-IR and ¹H-NMR spectroscopies, elemental analysis and gel permeation chromatography. The influence of adamantane content on the thermal stability and photoluminescent performance of the synthesized copolymers was investigated in detail. DSC results showed that glass transition temperature increased dramatically, from 68°C for neat carbazole, to 88°C, 120°C and 152°C, after the addition of 10%, 20%, and 30% TBA, respectively. The same trend was found when thermal decomposition temperature at 5% weight loss was evaluated from TGA data. Importantly, this increased stability can be extended to thermo-optical performance, with the Cz-TBA system showing higher color purity and stronger emission intensity within blue light wavelength than carbazole alone. Nevertheless, measurements of emitting spectral stability at a broader temperature range (100–200°C) and photoluminescence quantum yield suggested that there is a delicate trade-off between the performance and adamantane content.     

The role of peptides and proteins in melanoidin formation

High‐molecular‐weight (HMW) coloured compounds called melanoidins are widely distributed, particularly in foods. It has been proposed that they originate through the Maillard reaction, a non‐enzymatic browning reaction, due to the interaction between protein or peptide amino groups and carbohydrates. The melanoidin structure is not definitively known, and they have been generally defined as HMW nitrogen‐containing brown polymers. In order to gain information on the nature of melanoidins, a simple in vitro model was chosen to investigate the products of the reactions between sugars and peptide/proteins. This approach would elucidate whether melanoidin formation is due to the binding of different sugar units to a peptide/protein or vice versa. With this aim, the reactivity of two different peptides, EPK177 and physalaemin, and a low‐molecular‐weight (LMW) protein, lysozyme, was tested towards different saccharides (glucose, maltotriose (MT), maltopentaose and dextran 1000) in aqueous solutions at different temperatures. The incubation mixtures were analysed at different reaction times by MALDI/MS. Furthermore, in order to verify the possible role of sugar pyrolysis products in melanoidin formation, the products arising from the thermal treatment at 200 °C of MT were incubated with lysozyme, and the reaction products were analysed by the same MS approach. The obtained results allowed the establishment of some general views: melanoidins cannot simply originate by reactions of sugar moieties with proteins. In fact, the reaction easily occurs, but it does not lead to any coloured product, as melanoidins have been described to be; melanoidins cannot originate from the thermal degradation products of glycated proteins. In fact, the thermal treatment of glycated lysozyme leads to a severe degradation of the protein with the formation of LMW species, far from the view of melanoidins as HMW compounds; experimental evidence has been gained on the melanoidin formation through reaction of intact protein with the pyrolysis products of MT. This hypothesis has been supported either from MALDI measurements or from spectroscopic data that show an absorption band in the range 300–600 nm, typical of melanoidins. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Sequence analysis of glycolide and p‐dioxanone copolymers

Low and medium molecular weight copolymers constituted by glycolide and p‐dioxanone units have been synthesized by a ring‐opening polymerization. The p‐dioxanone monomer was obtained from (2‐hydroxyethoxy)acetate or by thermal depolymerization of poly(p‐dioxanone). ¹H and ¹³C NMR spectra were highly sensitive to the chemical sequences, which were effectively assigned by considering the data from samples with different compositions, and the acquisition of heteronuclear ¹H and ¹³C NMR‐correlated spectra. End groups were also identified, allowing methylene protons of sequences involving up to two glycolide units to be distinguished. These data seem basic to analyze degradation products or the influence of thermal treatments in chain microstructure. Glycolide/p‐dioxanone copolymers are an interesting system because changes on chemical sequences can easily occur due to a depolymerization reaction that eliminates p‐dioxanone residues. Furthermore, depending on the polymerization conditions, the occurrence of transesterification reactions may be highly significant. These reactions have a great impact in properties such as the melting temperature and can be easily quantified by NMR spectroscopy because of the occurrence of a new chemical sequence. © 2009 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Polym Sci Part A: Polym Chem, 2009     

A single and simple mathematical expression of the signal for cw-laser thermal lens spectrometry

Since the discovery of the thermal lens effect, several theoretical models have been put forward for cw-laser thermal lens spectrometry and different expressions of the thermal lens signal have been derived for various optical configurations including single-beam or dual-beam situations. This review focuses primarily on the successive mathematical expressions reported so far for both steady-state and time-resolved measurements, with the aim of comparing them in order to propose a single and convenient relation that accurately accounts for the sensitivity and the temporal behaviour of the thermal lens efrect.     

High-temperature TG/DSC/QMS applications in environmental protection

The decomposition reactions of polystyrene, phenolic resin and a protective undercoating material for automobiles which contains PVC were tested using a new type of thermal analysis — mass spectrometry coupling system for measurements to 1500C or 2000C, which is based on the principle of a two-step skimmer orifice system. The results will be presented, with particular emphasis on the detection sensitivity of the new system for the products of decomposition.The capability of this coupling system to detect even heavy metals such as lead and silver in the waste gases from decomposition or after evaporation at high temperatures will also be demonstrated.     

Photonic crystal fibre as an optofluidic reactor for the measurement of photochemical kinetics with sub-picomole sensitivity

Photonic crystal fibre constitutes an optofluidic system in which light can be efficiently coupled into a solution-phase sample, contained within the hollow core of the fibre, over long path-lengths. This provides an ideal arrangement for the highly sensitive monitoring of photochemical reactions by absorption spectroscopy. We report here the use of UV/vis spectroscopy to measure the kinetics of the photochemical and thermal cis-trans isomerisation of sub-picomole samples of two azo dyes within the 19-μm diameter core of a photonic crystal fibre, over a path length of 30 cm. Photoisomerisation quantum yields are the first reported for "push-pull" azobenzenes in solution at room temperature; such measurements are challenging because of the fast thermal isomerisation process. Rate constants obtained for thermal isomerisation are in excellent agreement with those established previously in conventional cuvette-based measurements. The high sensitivity afforded by this intra-fibre method enables measurements in solvents in which the dyes are too insoluble to permit conventional cuvette-based measurements. The results presented demonstrate the potential of photonic crystal fibres as optofluidic elements in lab-on-a-chip devices for photochemical applications.     

Cyclobutanones and Cyclobutenones in Nature and in Synthesis [New Synthetic Methods(71)]

The chemical reactivity of cyclobutanones and cyclobutenones is considerably different from that of cyclic ketones with larger rings; this is due to their ring strain of ca. 25 kcal/mol. Detailed knowledge regarding the influence of this ring strain on regio-, chemo- and stereoselective transformations of four-membered ring ketones is of particular importance. While several reactions, such as the Baeyer–Villiger reaction, the Beckmann and Favorskii rearrangements and cine-substitution often proceed in a manner specific to four-membered rings, other reactions such as the facile ring-opening by nucleophiles, the rearrangement to tropolones, the thermal [2+2]-cycloreversion, the isomerization to vinylketenes and the photochemical formation of oxacarbenes are rather specific to cyclobutanones and cyclobutenones. The remarkable selectivity and the excellent yields of such transformations, which are favored or caused by ring strain as the inherent driving force, offer the synthetic chemist fascinating possibilities for the development of new strategies for the synthesis of natural products and biologically active compounds.     

The studies of the reaction of bismuth(III) with iodide at nanogram level by thermal lensing

By the example of the analytical system based on the reaction of bismuth with iodide, it is shown that thermal lens spectrometry can be used for studying changes in analytical reactions at the nanogram level of reactants. The stability constants of bismuth(III) iodides at the concentration level are found. The solubility constants of iodides of metals interfering with bismuth determination are estimated. It is shown that the due regard to the new conditions could enhance the sensitivity and selectivity of determination.     

Spectrophotometric and thermal lens determination of aluminum with 3-sulfo-5-nitro-4′-diethylamino-2,2′-dihydroxyazobenzene

The conditions of the spectrophotometric and thermal lens determination of aluminum with sulfo-5-nitro-4′-diethylamino-2,2′-dihydroxyazobenzene have been compared. The limit of spectrophotometric detection of aluminum in aqueous solutions has been found to be 8 ng/mL. On the basis of the conditions of spectrophotometric determination, the conditions for thermal lens determination have been proposed (532.0 nm, exciting radiation power of 42 mW); they provide a decrease of the detection limit down to 0.6 ng/mL and an increase of the sensitivity coefficient by an order of magnitude. It has been shown that, in the case of the thermal lens determination of aluminum in water-organic mixtures (50 vol % of dimethyl sulfoxide or 30 vol % acetonitrile), the sensitivity coefficient is respectively 9.1 and 6.3-fold higher as compared with the thermal lens determination in water. As a result, the detection limits are reduced 2.5 and 10-fold, respectively. Aluminum has been determined by thermal lens spectrophotometry in Moscow’s tap water using the standard addition method, its concentration being 0.79 ± 0.07 mg/L, which is above the threshold limit value of the aluminum content of drinking water.